Palestinians threaten violence over Netanyahu speech

Monday, June 15, 2009 |
Israel Today Staff

A top aide to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s peace policies laid out in a speech earlier in the evening could be met by a fresh wave of Muslim terrorism.

“It's obvious, in the aftermath of this speech, that we are headed toward another round of violence and bloodshed,” said the aide.

The Palestinian Authority predictably issued an official statement bashing Netanyahu’s commitment to only a demilitarized Palestinian state, his refusal to uproot existing Jewish settlements and surrender eastern Jerusalem, his call for so-called “Palestinian refugees” to be settled outside the borders of Israel, and his insistence that Abbas reestablish control over Hamas-ruled Gaza before peace talks can move forward.

According to the statement, Netanyahu had effectively buried the peace process, though in actuality, his positions very closely mirror those set out by Israel and ostensibly accepted by the Palestinians at the start of the “Oslo” peace process in 1993.

Abbas and his regime ignored completely Netanyahu’s charge that the true root of the conflict is their refusal to accept Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people.

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